All India Anna Dravida Munnetra chief V K Sasikala on Wednesday visited the memorial of J Jayalalithaa and the Ramapuram residence of party founder M G Ramachandran before leaving for Bengaluru to surrender before a court.
The 62-year-old leader, who was locked in a bitter tussle with AIADMK’s O Panneerselvam for Tamil Nadu’s chief ministership, took the inevitable journey to the Karnataka capital after the Supreme Court earlier in the day refused to give her further time to surrender.
“We do not intend to pass any order on this. We are not going to change anything in the judgment,” a bench headed by Justice P C Ghose said on the leader’s plea wanting some time to surrender as she had to manage her affairs.
“Sorry. We have already written everything in the fatty judgment and it says forthwith. I am not going to change even a word,” the bench said.
The Bench had on Tuesday convicted her and two others in the 19-year-old case.
Edappadi K Palaniswami was then elected as the AIADMK Legislature Party leader.
At the Jayalalithaa memorial on Marina Beach, Sasikala paid floral tributes and was seen muttering something which was not audible.
She had on Tuesday given a pep talk to MLAs and supporters to stay bold and remain united.
“Only I can be jailed, not the care or concern I have for this party. Wherever I will be, my thoughts will be here,” Sasikala had told both her MLAs at Koovathur resort as well as to her supporters later at Poes Garden late Tuesday night.
Before leaving the Poes Garden residence of Jayalalithaa, where Sasikala continued to stay after the former’s demise last December, she was greeted by slogan-shouting supporters.
At the Jayalalithaa memorial, Sasikala made her way through the crowd of supporters that included a sobbing former minister Gokula Indira and Deputy General Secretary and her nephew T T V Dinakaran, and put up a brave face.
Later at the Ramapuram residence of M G Ramachandran, popularly known as MGR, she briefly meditated before his portrait.
She also paid homage to a life size statue of the former matinee idol at the residence, which she had unveiled recently.
Some women there also performed ‘aarti’ for Sasikala.
On Tuesday, the apex court had upheld the trial court verdict awarding four years jail term to the convicts in the case, besides imposition of a fine of Rs 10 crore each on Sasikala and two others.
The trial court had imposed a fine of Rs 100 crore on the late Jayalalithaa. During the brief hearing on Wednesday, the bench said that the word ‘immediately’ has been used in the judgment with regard to the surrender of the convict.
Sasikala, 60, will have to serve a jail term of around three-and-half years out of the four years awarded by trial court as she has already undergone almost six months in prison.
In its 570-page judgment, the apex court had dashed her ambition to become the Tamil Nadu CM by holding her guilty of conspiring with late AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa and “restored in toto” the trial court’s decision in the case.
The trial court had found disproportionate assets worth Rs 53.60 crore, which Jayalalithaa and the three others could not account for. The Central Bureau of Investigation had alleged that the unaccounted wealth was in the tune of Rs 66.65 crore.
Photographs: ANI/Twitter
